Tilting Motor Works - does anyone here actually own one or ridden one?

[dadztoy]

Tilting Motor Works - does anyone here actually own one or ridden one?

Seems like a great concept to me especially if you enjoy the lean of motorcycling but are just about ready for a trike... Does anyone here have one or have you ridden one??? Would enjoy hearing your comments either yea or nay...

Les

 

[RedOregon]

I drove behind one of those things on the way back from Sturgis last year. Watched it skitter back and forth across the lane for dozens of miles. Finally we came off to a gas station at the same time, and I walked over to chitchat with the guy. He spent quite a while telling me how stable it was, gave me business cards, etc., etc. When I asked him about skittering back and forth, he said no, no, stable as hell, rides like it's on rails...

I dunno... I followed him for a long long time and watched that thing skipping right to left for quite a while. Maybe you get used to it and don't notice after a while or something.

 

[rhino 2]

I drove behind one of those things on the way back from Sturgis last year. Watched it skitter back and forth across the lane for dozens of miles. Finally we came off to a gas station at the same time, and I walked over to chitchat with the guy. He spent quite a while telling me how stable it was, gave me business cards, etc., etc. When I asked him about skittering back and forth, he said no, no, stable as hell, rides like it's on rails...

I dunno... I followed him for a long long time and watched that thing skipping right to left for quite a while. Maybe you get used to it and don't notice after a while or something.

A lot of Ya-Hoos on Sport Bikes ride like that..They like the feeling of weaving back and forth going down the road like a fighter pilot... I imagine thats why he has a leaning Trike gets the fighter pilot feel. .. Plus he doesn't have to pick up plastic pieces like on a sport bike when he crashes..:laugh:

 

[RedOregon]

No, he wasn't doing the swoopy swoopy thing... he was kinda skipping erratically left and right... like imagine if you had bearings a couple sizes off in your steering head and the forks were kinda sloppy?

 

[rhino 2]

No, he wasn't doing the swoopy swoopy thing... he was kinda skipping erratically left and right... like imagine if you had bearings a couple sizes off in your steering head and the forks were kinda sloppy?

Interesting...Maybe someone who has one will chime in....:Shrug:

 

[Ozarkryder]

Never have seen one in person, but it is an interesting concept that has been around a while. I remember in the 70's someone came up with a sidecar rig that would lean in the curves. It was even on a police show once - I think Adam 12, but it could have been CHIPs.

Jay Leno's garage did a show abut Tilting Motor Works:

 

[FuzzyWuzHe]

Notice Jay kept putting his feet down ....

 

[rhino 2]

Notice Jay kept putting his feet down ....

I think you have to, Without the auto leaving' The trike will lean over to the pegs.. Thats why the one he rode has a kickstand...

 

[dadztoy]

Well, they have 2 different models - one without tilt lock and one with... If I understand the theory of operation, the one with tilt lock will come upright at 3 MPH or less or when you hit it's actuate button...

Wish we could find someone that has one or has ridden one...

Les

 

[rudymsmith]

tilt lock

Well, they have 2 different models - one without tilt lock and one with... If I understand the theory of operation, the one with tilt lock will come upright at 3 MPH or less or when you hit it's actuate button...

Wish we could find someone that has one or has ridden one...

Les

I had my downpayment to convert my Honda gl1800 to a tilting motor works bike. BUT as of 2 feb 17 they still didn't have the tilt lock mechanism ready so I have decided to convert to something different that still has two wheels up front. Shame I LOVE the tilt concept.

 

[hogcowboy]

Darn...I was hoping someone here had one. I too would like going this route and the time to do something is getting very VERY close. I've never seen one on the road. That handling described above doesn't sound good. That would be unacceptable. The videos I've seen are always at rather slow speeds I've noticed. I'd sure like to see one at 80mph like is common highways speeds here.


I'll probably go with landing gear unless these things start popping up and are getting great reviews. It may end up being just another great concept that doesn't work in actual practice. Would be a shame. I like it. It's the best of both. So, after landing gear or maybe even instead, I'll go Hannigan front trike I suppose. That is if they have one for a Indian by then.:Shrug:

 

[rudymsmith]

Hannigan Roadster

Darn...I was hoping someone here had one. I too would like going this route and the time to do something is getting very VERY close. I've never seen one on the road. That handling described above doesn't sound good. That would be unacceptable. The videos I've seen are always at rather slow speeds I've noticed. I'd sure like to see one at 80mph like is common highways speeds here.


I'll probably go with landing gear unless these things start popping up and are getting great reviews. It may end up being just another great concept that doesn't work in actual practice. Would be a shame. I like it. It's the best of both. So, after landing gear or maybe even instead, I'll go Hannigan front trike I suppose. That is if they have one for a Indian by then.:Shrug:

So far the Roadster is just for the GL1800's F6B and F6A (Valkyrie F6C not included) 12-15K. Endeavor can put their high quality system on any bike
https://endeavortrikes.com/

rumor has it that Hannigan is updating the RT Roadster steering this year 2017.

 

[dadztoy]

I finally got a chance to ride a TMW trike conversion on a late model GL1800... A friend had the conversion on a 2013 GL1800 and they have had a lot of problems with the Tilt Lock and are not getting very much cooperation from either Gene's Gallery or TMW...

The issue seems to be one of the tilt lock mechanism unlocking and locking unevenly when accelerating or decelerating... I accelerated from a dead stop at a brisk rate and totally lost control of the bike as it dove off to the left side... When the tilt lock re-engaged, the bike would sometimes lean to one side quite severely until the the other half of the system would kick in and right the bike... To be fair - TMW says a firmware upgrade and possibly new Mother board are in the works (with no firm date for release) but that does no good for my friend who can't ride the bike with Tilt Lock activated...

Regarding other characteristics of the ride, I thought the front end felt very heavy and the steering response was heavy and fatiguing... Minor steering inputs were difficult to accomplish because of this heavy feeling and effort required to make minor steering input changes...

Couple this with the fact that you lose ABS and Linked Braking functionality on the GL1800, this conversion is a clear NO for me until ALL these issues are resolved...

I don't know if my friends conversion has a electronic problem peculiar to that particular unit or this is typical for the TMW conversion but they seem to be less than anxious to do anything about it... My friend has already spoken with a lawyer in case the distributor or TMW fails to rectify this situation...

If your thinking about this conversion for your Goldwing, I would be very cautious before committing without asking a lot of questions and getting guarantees on operational functionality!!!

Les

 

[RTwing]

I just happen to come across this. Interesting as I did a lot of research on tilting trikes before I invented the Universal reverse trike design. (the trikes in on of the last post are mostly mine)

The problem with the tilting trike is it tilts so it makes as little sense as a car that tilts. What you end up with is a $12,000 extra wheel. There is no traction or braking gains it's simply a novelty idea with little practical merit. The non-tilting reverse trike will out corner the tilting units and it will never run out of ground clearance. Very stabil on the road and steering is very naturally unlike the rear wheel trikes which do not steer naturally. The tilting unit has to use 3 expensive MC tires with do not last very long opposed to the RT design which uses 3 CT's that will not only cost 1/3rd the money initially but last 40-50k. Ride is much better due to lower inflation rates and softer tires.

As far as retaining ABS this is not really possible although some may claim they retain what they are doing is moving the front sensor to the rear wheel or visa versa for rear wheel trikes. This fools the computer into thinking the ABS is OK however it is technically disabled. ABS is not near as important on a trike as it is on 2 wheels. We all know what happens on 2 wheels if the front wheel locks up. A trike is much more controllable under high braking conditions.

So that is my 4 cents ThumbUp